曹雪

Mr. Dawson was an old grouch（愛發(fā)脾氣的人）， and everyone in town knew it. Kids knew not to go into his yard to pick a delicious apple， even off the ground， because old Dawson， they said， would come after you with his ball bullet gun.

One Friday， 12-year-old Janet was going to stay all night with her friend Amy. They had to walk by Dawson’s house on the way to Amy’s house， but as they got close Janet saw him sitting on his front porch and suggested they cross over to the other side of the street. Like most of the children， she was scared of（害怕）the old man because of the stories she’d heard about him.

Amy said not to worry， Mr. Dawson wouldn’t hurt anyone. Still， Janet was growing more nervous with each step closer to the old man’s house. When they got close enough， Dawson looked up with his usual frown（皺眉）， but when he saw it was Amy， a broad smile changed his entire face as he said， “Hello Miss Amy. I see you’ve got a little friend with you today.”

Amy smiled back and told him Janet was staying overnight and they were going to listen to music and play games. Dawson told them that sounded fun， and offered them each a fresh picked apple off his tree. They gladly accepted. Dawson had the best apples in town.

When they got out of Dawson’s earshot（聽力范圍）， Janet asked Amy， “Everyone says he’s the meanest（最刻薄的）man in town. How come he was so nice to us？”

Amy explained that when she first started walking past his house， he wasn’t very friendly and she was afraid of him， but she pretended he was wearing an invisible（看不見的）smile and so she always smiled back at him. It took a while， but one day he half-smiled back at her.

After some more time， he started smiling real smiles and then started talking to her. Just a“hello”at first， then more. She said he always offers her an apple now， and is always very kind.

"An invisible smile？ ” questioned Janet.

"Yes， ”answered Amy， “my grandma told me that if I pretended I wasn’t afraid and pretended he was smiling an invisible smile at me and I smiled back at him， that sooner or later he would really smile. Grandma says smiles are contagious（感染性的）.”

If we remember what Amy’s grandma said， that everyone wears an invisible smile， we too will find that most people can’t resist our smile after a while.

【精彩譯文】

道森先生是個壞脾氣的老頭兒，鎮(zhèn)上的每個人都知道。小孩們知道不能到他的院子里摘美味的蘋果，甚至掉在地上的也不能撿，因?yàn)閾?jù)他們說，老道森會端著他的彈丸獵槍跟在你后面追。

一個周五，12歲的珍妮特要陪她的朋友艾米過夜。她們?nèi)グ准业耐局械寐愤^道森先生的房子。當(dāng)她們離道森家越來越近時，珍妮特看見道森先生坐在前廊，于是她建議她們過馬路從街的另一邊走。跟大多數(shù)孩子一樣，珍妮特聽過道森先生的故事，對他很是害怕。

艾米說別擔(dān)心，道森先生不會傷害任何人。但每向前走一步，離老人的房子越近，珍妮特就越緊張。當(dāng)她們走到房子那兒，道森抬起了頭，一如既往地皺著他的眉頭。但當(dāng)他看到是艾米，一個燦爛的笑容讓他整個表情都變了，他說：“你好，艾米小姐，我看見今天有位小朋友陪你。”

艾米也對他微笑，告訴他珍妮特會陪她過夜，她們要一起聽音樂和玩游戲。道森告訴她們這聽上去很有趣，并給她們每人一個從他的樹上剛摘下來的蘋果。她們很高興地接受了，因?yàn)榈郎奶O果是鎮(zhèn)上最棒的。

走到道森聽不到的地方，珍妮特問艾米：“每個人都說他是鎮(zhèn)上最不好打交道的人，但他為什么對我們這么好呢？”

艾米說當(dāng)她第一次路過他家時，他不是很友好，這讓她害怕。但她假裝他有著看不見的微笑，所以她總對他回以微笑。終于過了一段時間，有一天，他也對她露出了一點(diǎn)笑容。

再過了些日子，他開始真正地對她笑了，并開始和艾米說話。起初只是打個招呼，后來越來越多。她說他現(xiàn)在總給她蘋果，總是很友善。

“看不見的笑容？”珍妮特問。

“是的，”艾米回答道。“我奶奶告訴我如果我假裝不害怕，假裝他有著看不見的笑容，我對他微笑，總有一天他會真正微笑起來。奶奶說笑容是可以互相感染的?！?/p>

如果我們記住艾米奶奶說的——每個人都有著看不見的笑容，我們會發(fā)現(xiàn)大多數(shù)人在一段時間后是無法抗拒我們的微笑的。